off-topic responses =P
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You should visit the car, bike, phone, video, etc forum equivalents of head-fi. The specs vs subjective testing is alive and thrashing everywhere there are enthusiasts.
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sure, nothing wrong with being passionate about certain things & debating preferences. but there is a difference between user preference vs the intrinsic specs of a product. you can subjectively prefer one thing over another due to XYZ intrinsic specs of the product that others can relate to or just b/c you personally like it better. (ex: liking a car based on certain specs such as horsepower/torque/other performance metrics vs. liking a car because you like the way it feels/drives). both are perfectly acceptable opinions.
However, "liking the way it feels/drives" is a personal preference, just like preferring vanilla over chocolate is a personal preference. To transform your preference into something that others without that specific preference will find interesting to talk about, you have to explore what intrinsic factors cause you to feel this way (ex: weight/handling/whatever) and test it in a scientific, reproducible way to see if it's accurate.
from my experience, headphone discussions often become more focused on the personal preference aspect rather than the intrinsic properties of the headphones. that's totally chill, but sometimes, people seem to get carried away with their personal preferences. i feel like the fact that headphones do not have any sort of really reliable listener-independent, performance-based specs to fall back on makes it impossible to resolve a lot of discussions. I prefer X because I hear A & you prefer Y because you hear B... cool beans, but that seems like different personal preferences.
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And the sound waves will be different, depending on the fit/seal on the individual ears, which are all different. So if the fit is not the same for everyone, neither is the sound.
mmm... false. the sound waves (the oscillation of pressure) will be the same. wavelength, frequency, and velocity is constant through the same medium. my basic physics is fuzzy, so if I'm wrong, please correct me.
you know the sound waves don't change, because even if your headphones don't fit properly, a D note still sounds like a D note (still has the same frequency). if you are in a concert hall, acoustically-tuned room, or small room, the D note is still going to be a D note. =P lol
what you are talking about with fit/seal relates primarily to sound reflection and noise isolation/leakage, which can change your perception of the sound. sound waves would be the same though.
finally, regardless of the slight physical variations of your external ear, all sound waves that you hear is directed in the same way for you. that factor is not a variable because it is held constant for you.
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